


Down the Tube

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Challenge Response, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-01-06
Updated: 2004-01-06
Packaged: 2019-05-30 12:06:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15096359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: For the WWSOTU September 'Blackout' challenge.





	1. Down the Tube

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Down The Tube**

**by:** Lifeasanamazon

**Character(s):** CJ, Toby  
**Pairing(s):** CJ/Toby  
**Rating:** ADULT  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine at all.  
**Summary:** For the WWSOTU September ‘Blackout’ challenge.  
**Spoiler:** Ha Ha Ha Ha.  
**Author's Note:** This doesn’t in anyway compare to the blackout horrors across the pond, but it did happen (my children and I missed it by half an hour) and although it didn’t last, you can bet your life what happened in North America was in the front of everyone’s minds for those couple of hours until things got going again. And, of course, I’ve tinkered with the timing and other details that just didn’t happen to suit me.

All you fellow Londoners who raise your eyebrows at someone being quite so accommodating when asked for help on the tube -  I’m striking a blow for all of us who might have been pleasant in that situation! And I’ve added a spot of youth. Just because I can.

Thanks to Kimberly, Kat, Kate and AJ for ‘gentle’ encouragement. And Rhonda, of course, for her somewhat twisted persistence and unshakeable faith.

"Come on, CJ, just push, for God’s sake." Toby’s voice had risen at least an octave and she could tell that the heat was beginning to get to him.

"Will you keep your voice down, Toby?  I’m trying as hard as I can! Ow!" CJ yelped as the sharp edge of a briefcase hit her in the shin. " I mean it, _please_ don’t raise your voice. They get my briefings here too, you know -  not to mention the hundreds of fellow Americans, to whom I am not an unfamiliar face, who are also trying to get onto this train. All of them carrying backpacks." She ducked as a lurid orange specimen swung towards her, and grinned as it hit Toby squarely in the face.

"You did that on purpose," he muttered, giving an extra shove and following close behind. The doors squeezed closed behind him and what little air that had been circulating was cut off.

The train set off with its huge load, swinging along the track and bumping through the warren of tunnels below the city. 

CJ looked quickly at the man standing next to her. She considered him an enigma, a puzzle that over fifteen years of friendship had brought her no closer to solving. Toby frustrated and amused her in equal parts, but she never doubted his intellect, his compassion or his passion. She just wasn’t sure that she really knew him at all. Now she thought about it, it really didn’t strike her as odd that he of all people should be standing with her now; he usually stuck around when she asked him to. The memory of her encounter with Tad Whitney hovered within reach of a blush, but she pushed it away. It had been worth it to see the look on his face when she had stood in the Oval Office and said she was good in bed. And, to be fair, he hadn’t hung up on her since then. What was odd, though, was standing this close to him and feeling his chest pressed firmly against her arm. Apart from the occasional dance and celebratory hug, theirs was a fairly non-contact friendship, and, as far as she could make out, Toby seemed quite happy to continue his fruitless wooing of the mother of his children and limit his expressions of  physical affection to the twins and the helpless pink rubber ball he still flung around his office. CJ wondered if he was feeling quite as comfortable as she was with their enforced proximity. She leaned gently against him, just to test the boundaries.

"The next stop is Oxford Circus."  

Toby grimaced as the disembodied voice of the driver bellowed out of the speaker above his ear.

CJ turned her head to look over her shoulder at him. "This was your idea. I said we should walk with the others."

"Yeah, but we would have been wedged between just as many people walking down Oxford Street as we are here. At least inside there are no cars, no buses, no bicycles and no birds to crap on my head." 

She grinned.

"And no more ‘Aren’t you...? Would you mind just signing ...?’" Toby tried not to look bitter and failed.

"Just because no-one knows who you are, there’s no need to take it out on me." CJ stopped talking as the train slowed and the heaving mass of people began to jostle and rearrange themselves. The doors opened and spewed out half the contents.

CJ groaned as she saw the crowds waiting to get on. "How do they do this every day?" She saw an opening and, grabbing Toby’s arm, pulled him towards the end of the car where the small window was open a few inches. She pressed her back against it and smiled an apology at the exhausted looking passengers that Toby had knocked against in his effort to keep up with her. It occurred to her that virtually everybody around them had tiny earphones in their ears and that in the relative quiet of the car, she could hear a strange tinny cacophony, broken only by the occasional quiet conversation from where they had just been standing. "I guess you cope with this in any way you can," she murmured to herself and turned her attention back to Toby and his warmth now pressing against her again. CJ was mildly surprised at the comfort she drew from it. "Better the devil you know, I suppose..."

Toby sighed, shoulders slumped, a vision of utter misery - or so she surmised.

"Why am I looking at the back of your head, Toby? Well, the top and the back would be more accurate, I guess. Can I rest my chin on it?"

"You do that, CJ, and I think I can find a more effective place for my elbow to land." Toby kept his voice low and his eyes fixed on the shoulder of the man wedged in front of him. "We have just five more minutes of hell on this train and I think it would be mutually less embarrassing if you could remember where _my_ chin might settle if I were to turn around."

She laughed and blew gently at the back of his head.

"CJ! I’m warning you... What? What’s happening now?"

The train had jolted to a sudden stop and the car was plunged into darkness. There was a gentle murmur of complaint and then the tinny quiet once again.

"You can tell this isn’t New York. Why don’t they _say_ something?" Toby shook his head in disbelief. It was completely dark, they were hot and squashed and nobody had uttered a word since that first moment.

CJ tapped the arm of what she presumed was the woman standing next to her and knew that she had responded when she heard a quick burst of Robbie Williams as an earphone was temporarily removed.

"Excuse me, but do you happen to know what has happened and when we might start moving again?" CJ kept the frustration out of her voice. She wasn’t going to be the first one to crack; the sudden tension coming off Toby in waves made her think that he might be finding this situation more than stressful and she needed to do something to distract him, give him the illusion that there was information to be gained.

"It happens quite a lot actually, but we usually start moving again pretty quickly." The young voice continued, "You get used to it if you use the tube every day. I’m sorry I can’t help more." The music dimmed again as the earphone was replaced.

CJ sighed, squinting in an effort to see more than the blackness around her. She wasn’t famous for her eyesight and God knows why she held out any hope at all that squinting might help. It had to be worth a try, though - anything was better than just standing there, accepting the situation. Or was it?

"I notice that your chin has landed where you indicated it wouldn’t. What the hell do you think you are doing, Toby?" Her whisper was savage, even if she was confident that those around her could not make out her words above their own personal oblivion.

Toby’s quiet voice reached up from around her neck. "You are the closest thing to the window and any chance I might have of breathing in the foreseeable future. I assumed that you would prefer not to have to hold up my unconscious body for the interminable time it seems to be taking to get this damn train moving again. If I’m wrong, then feel free to maneuver me back around again and prepare to suffer the consequences." 

Toby was struggling to keep himself from giving in to hysteria. Darkness and enclosed spaces were the stuff of his childhood nightmares, and the occasional dream since then, if he were honest. CJ had to hold it together for both of them - he sure as hell couldn’t.

CJ smiled and caught herself doing it. Damn him. "Okay, but one false move, Mister, and it’ll be you doing the suffering. 

"As long as you can be sure which body you are inflicting punishment on, then that’s fine by me." Toby murmured into her neck and felt her twitch as his beard made contact with the sensitive skin there. He did it again just to make sure.

"Sorry, CJ, is that you?" This time he couldn’t help smiling and shocked himself at his reaction when his lips brushed against her earlobe a second later. Maybe he could distract himself from his terror after all, even if he was playing with two different kinds of fire.

They stood in silence for a moment. 

CJ held her breath. She’d heard about sexual assaults in crowded cars before, but she’d never thought about herself being subject to one of them. She swallowed hard and had to admit that Toby had done nothing remotely resembling an assault, let alone anything overtly sexual. So far. She was stunned by the realization that she would really rather like it if he touched her again. Athletic sex was her thing; she was proud of her stamina and her flexibility. She also considered herself fairly unshockable, yet exhibitionism had never turned her on, and she _was_ turned on. Definitely turned on. And in a crowded tube train, buried darkly deep beneath London. She suddenly wished she knew their location a little better, wished she could be sure that they hadn’t come to a halt with the River Thames flowing strongly above them.

"Toby..." CJ’s whisper was rough with desire and suppressed panic.

Toby sensed her confusion and he blocked her fear with his own need. He had to divert her. He had to stop her voicing her anxiety: had to keep her strong for them both. He had to distract her. He tilted his head in the darkness and flickered his tongue against her collarbone, tasting the sweat on her skin and feeling the hard ridge of bone with its silken covering. This time, he felt her stomach pull away from him, just as her thigh edged minutely between his legs. He closed his eyes and slowly bent his elbow, trailing his hand up from her hip to her blouse, fingernails lightly scraping through the soft fabric. The darkness gave him courage, made him forget who they were and where they were; made him forget himself.

"Toby, we can’t do this - not here!" CJ’s whisper was urgent in his ear, her breath hot on his cheek. "There are people..." Her words were lost in a gasp as his finger flicked across her nipple.

He paused to consider what she had said. He wasn't desperate enough to ignore the warning in her voice, but he couldn’t help but take encouragement from the way her hips were pressing against him, the erratic flutter of her pulse against his lips on her neck. He dragged those lips softly up towards her ear, smiling as she leaned into him.

"How about we don’t _do_ anything here. How about I let you know what I’d like to be doing to you, with just the occasional appetizer to tempt you?" 

CJ bit her lip as the possibilities of suggestion swam through her befuddled mind. She gasped again as his hot tongue swept the shell of her ear and out again; the heat that coursed through her driving all rational thought from her head. His teeth closed briefly over her earlobe and all resistance was gone.

Toby drew back an inch and held his breath. He still could see nothing, and from what he could judge around him, the other prisoners were enveloped on their own worlds. He could feel the resignation hanging in the air, taste it. Taste... taste... he had the beginnings of his first move. Now he had to find out if CJ was willing to play.

"Yes?" Toby’s mouth hovered over CJ’s ear and he took the delicate lobe between his lips and nibbled. He was rewarded with a low moan and the soft movement of her cheek against his as she nodded. He felt her lips turn towards his and he drew back again.

"Not yet, CJ, not yet. But I do want to taste you. Be patient."

CJ knew that he was playing with her, knew that she was entirely at his mercy and for the first time in her life, she didn’t care. There was something enthralling about this submission, about relinquishing control to him, about handing over the power she usually wielded. Somewhere in the fevered activity of her mind she knew that she trusted Toby and the admission was startling only for a second before it was blasted away by the feeling of his fingers on her stomach. Fingers caressing and smoothing and sliding down to unbutton the fly of her jeans. She breathed in automatically and felt Toby smile against her cheek as he slipped his hand lower.

"I want you to think of my fingers as my lips, CJ. Can you do that?" His voice was low in her ear and her knees buckled in response. His other arm, around her waist, fixed her firmly against the door and she concentrated on the handle, cold and hard against her hip. Something else hot and hard was pushing against her thigh, and she pressed her leg instinctively against it, wiggling to allow his hand better access to where she ached to be touched.

Toby allowed his fingers to twist and slide as they slipped under her panties to the heat beneath. He could feel CJ sigh as she arched to meet him and he swallowed hard, desperately trying to stop himself getting lost in her; the need to be aware of their surroundings, and knowing she was trusting him, had to be his priority. He loved women and their bodies and this particular body had been the subject of many an ‘under the cover of darkness’ fantasy. Much like now. Except for the oblivious bystanders.

"Toby..." CJ muffled her voice against his shoulder as she felt him enter her briefly and slide straight out. She wasn’t sure she could stand much more and the effort of keeping still and quiet had made her lip bleed. His hand was trailing back up the way it had come and she whimpered at the loss of him, while the flicker of sanity that remained thanked God that he hadn’t pushed her over the edge.

"What did I say that my fingers were?"

Toby tilted her head with the hand that had been holding her up, and brought his mouth down on hers in a brief kiss.

"Uh, uh." He shook his head as she tried to kiss him again. "What did I say? Tell me. You have to say the words."

"Your fingers were your lips." Her voice rasped against his ear.

"And what were my ‘lips’ doing? I need to hear you CJ, come on."

"Your lips were..." She could hardly believe she was saying it. "Your lips were touching me, licking me, sucking me..." CJ felt dizzy with desire. Her nails dug into his arm in an effort to stop herself grinding into him.

"Toby?" She felt his finger on her face, smelt her arousal on him, took his finger in as he touched it onto her lip. Another gasp as he pulled out and pressed both his fingers into his own mouth. She heard him suck, his face so close to hers that her skin pricked. Then his mouth on hers again, the taste of her on him as his tongue flickered against hers. She dived into him, desperate to taste him above herself, sucking madly, her hands in his hair, pulling him even closer.

"Wait." Once more Toby jerked away. He listened, eyes scanning for possible movement in the blackness. Nothing. A murmured conversation from what seemed like the other end of the car, a gentle snore from somewhere else, and still that ever present background of indecipherable buzzing. 

He leaned closer still, pressing himself hard against her, but not daring to thrust, not trusting his control, his ability to contain the movement. He moved his hand back to her fly and re-buttoned her, flicking his fingers casually as he did so and feeling her tremble. He grasped his erection through his pants and positioned himself carefully, taking the moment to appreciate the benefit of those long legs. He pushed up and felt her press down on him. It was agony and he couldn’t bear to stop.

"My fingers, CJ," Toby had problems finding his voice now and he moved his mouth closer to her ear. "My fingers are my tongue. Can you feel them hot and wet and rough? Tell me!"

CJ quivered as she felt him move his hand from her groin to her stomach and up, under her blouse, trailing its wet warmth - in her mind’s eye - over her shivering skin.

"Tell me!" The demand again, insistent in her ear, winding her up again and again.

"Yes... I can feel your tongue and oh, God, Toby..." Involuntarily, her head crashed back into the door frame.

They froze. CJ heard someone stifle a laugh and a quiet ‘that must have hurt’ from about halfway down the car. She shook her head, trying to shake off the pain and the fear in her gut - and the arousal coursing through the rest of her body.

"It’s okay, it’s okay." Toby’s voice was like honey, his words rumbling against her throat.  "You’re safe, I’m with you."

Words that soothed her, wound round her and did nothing to stop the flush on her face, the heat in her core. She couldn’t believe that his fingers were stroking across her abdomen still, brushing the bottom of her bra. She couldn’t believe that her nipples ached with the desperate desire for him to touch them, and when he did, when those fingers, masquerading as his tongue, circled her nipples through her clothes, she shuddered silently as she came.

Toby wrapped both his arms around her and felt CJ’s head sink onto his shoulder. He shifted slightly to ease the pressure on his erection, but kept close contact with her, enjoying the heat burning between them. Aroused as he was, the thrill from what he had just done was unlike anything he had ever experienced and he didn’t want to let go of it, didn’t want to let go of her. He let his hands rub small circles against the small of her back and when she sighed, he turned his head to kiss her neck, enjoying the soft sweaty taste of her skin.

CJ tried not to let the reality of what had just happened penetrate the satisfied smog of her mind. The last time she had climaxed like that had been twenty-five years ago - the surge of memory made her smile; the feel of her boyfriend’s over eager lips on her breast after an hour of petting and kissing and not quite touching, had been enough to make her orgasm. But even that fond recollection had nothing on how Toby had just made her feel. She leaned into him a little more, letting the darkness mask the goofy grin that she just knew was plastered over her face, and slid her arm around his waist, letting the tips of her fingers lodge comfortably just under the top of his pants, her thumb rhythmically stroking his damp shirt. She was damned if she was going to let go of this.

"Thank you, Toby." The curls of his beard tickled her face as she whispered in his ear. "I believe I owe you."

Toby suppressed a smile. "It was my pleasure, CJ. Though I think we’ll have to get off of this damn train before you can repay me."

"I think you know I mean more than that." CJ felt him hold his breath. "I think you know how much I owe you and for how long." She let her lips brush against him. " I wouldn’t be here, Toby, in either sense, without you. Thank you."

Suddenly a jolt shook the train, as unexpected as the one twenty minutes or so before. Then a murmur from the people who had sat so patiently for most of that time. The lights flickered abruptly and came back on. There was a clanking noise and then gradual movement as the train started to move.

CJ lifted her head from Toby’s shoulder, but kept her hand on his backside, her thumb still stroking its regular pattern. Holding onto this meant holding onto Toby in her mind; if they reverted to their usual distance, pretended it didn’t matter, then it would be all too easy for him to accept that was the truth. And she had decided that it did matter, that he mattered more to her than she had let herself believe. Andi was going to have a fight on her hands and CJ realized with a start that she didn’t intend to play fair.

She glanced quickly round at her fellow passengers, seeing nothing out of the ordinary on their tired, hot faces. She pulled back to look at the man with his chin resting on her shoulder, his face being fanned by the cooler air now coming through the open window. He still had his arms around her, but his eyes were closed.

"Toby?" CJ tapped his arm with her free hand. "Are you awake?" She started to laugh.

"Don’t." That was it. One word issued as a grunt and then nothing. Eyes still shut.

The train began to slow as it approached the station and there was movement from all sides as bags and briefcases were picked up, and bodies inched towards the doors.

"This is Piccadilly Circus. Please change here for the Piccadilly line. Sorry for the delay back there - your guess is as good as mine."

A ripple of amusement at the driver’s words and then the doors opened and let out the flood of passengers. CJ noted that there was no-one waiting on the platform to get on, and she felt a flicker of unease. She stared at the tube map above her head, frowning in an effort to make sense of the multi-colored spaghetti before her face cleared.

"I’ve decided. We’re getting off at the next stop. We can walk over the river from there. It won’t take us that much longer." She looked around her.

 The car had nearly emptied, but Toby was still pressed conspicuously against her.

"Toby?"

"Don’t say anything. I can’t move."

CJ scanned the few faces still seated. She felt inclined to agree with him. Toby was sill scarred from his California jail encounter and she had no real desire to see him encounter British justice, or the English tabloid press for that matter. In fact, the only desire she could register was the need to feel him pressing against her without the added barrier of clothing.

"Why don’t we skip dinner and go straight back to the hotel? We can call Josh as soon as we get out of the station - tell him we’re fine, but hot and tired. You have until the next station to, um, rearrange your thoughts. Or at least put them on hold for ten minutes." She looked down at him as he nodded in agreement, "You can open your eyes now, you know, the lights . . ."

"Stop it!"

"Have come..."  She started to laugh.

"I said, stop it!"

"Okay, okay. Enough. Especially as there is no way I can get outside to turn around and spit and do what ever it is you think has to be done ..." CJ’s words disappeared in a gale of laughter.

Toby growled. "And stop laughing. It’s not helping the current situation."

"It’s not?" CJ looked startled, and feeling the increased pressure against her thigh, swallowed her comment and filed the information for future use.


	2. Down the Tube 2

**Down The Tube**

**by:** Lifeasanamazon

**Character(s):** CJ, Toby  
**Pairing(s):** CJ/Toby  
**Rating:** ADULT  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine at all.  
**Summary:** For the WWSOTU September ‘Blackout’ challenge.  
**Spoiler:** Ha Ha Ha Ha.  
**Author's Note:** This doesn’t in anyway compare to the blackout horrors across the pond, but it did happen (my children and I missed it by half an hour) and although it didn’t last, you can bet your life what happened in North America was in the front of everyone’s minds for those couple of hours until things got going again. And, of course, I’ve tinkered with the timing and other details that just didn’t happen to suit me.

All you fellow Londoners who raise your eyebrows at someone being quite so accommodating when asked for help on the tube -  I’m striking a blow for all of us who might have been pleasant in that situation! And I’ve added a spot of youth. Just because I can.

Thanks to Kimberly, Kat, Kate and AJ for ‘gentle’ encouragement. And Rhonda, of course, for her somewhat twisted persistence and unshakeable faith.

* * *

Josh stood at the entrance to Embankment station and peered at the hundreds of people streaming out. He guessed that CJ and Toby had to come up for air sometime, and if that had been him stuck down in that warren from hell, he’d have got out here so that he wouldn’t have had to go under the river. The river. Over rather than under for him any day - he liked bridges and London seemed to have more than its fair share. Josh glanced at his watch. Will was covering the other entrance to the station, but would be back onto The Embankment side if his colleagues hadn’t turned up in the next ten minutes.

Josh and Will had walked easily through the crowds from Oxford Street and had stopped in a pub just off Whitehall for a quick beer. That’s where they had learned about the power cut, and that’s where they had watched as most of London ground to a halt in the late afternoon heat. The President and First Lady had already left for Chequers with the Prime Minister and his wife, so the senior staff had been given the evening off, with instructions not to cause any diplomatic incidents. The plan had been for an early dinner then a movie, but neither event was going to happen if CJ and Toby had gone missing. They were also expected on Air Force One later that night; Josh sincerely hoped that they would turn up by then.

Suddenly he caught sight of a tall blond head in the crowd.

"CJ! CJ! Over here!" Josh waved frantically and pushed his way through the streaming crowd until he grabbed an arm and pulled her towards the wall by the river.

"Hey!" Will appeared at Josh’s shoulder. "Where’s Toby?"

Three heads turned as one towards the unhappy figure staggering through the mob; took in his frustration, his exhaustion, his hatred of his fellow man. And the fact that he was carrying CJ’s purse in front of him.

Josh paused for dramatic effect.

"Toby, why are you carrying CJ’s bag?"

Toby glanced up at his tormentor and then at Will and, finally, at CJ.

"Let’s just say that it seemed like a good idea at the time. The urge has somewhat diminished now." Toby thrust the purse back at its owner and stared at her, daring her to say more.

CJ wondered what to do. From the moment they had got off the train, she had worried about looking Toby in the eye. Standing on the escalator with his body close enough to send shivers down her spine, she had played out the options in her head and could find none that didn’t appall her. She had just suggested that they run back to their hotel to have sex. What more could she add? The soft kisses and touches and murmurs of their dark fantasy were exposed to harsh neon light, and she couldn’t be sure how Toby was feeling. She couldn’t be sure how she was feeling either. Except that she now knew his fingers had been inside her... and how that had felt. Not to mention his tongue. Luckily, the mass of people around them gave her the perfect excuse not to talk, and even when they had emerged from the underground in the hazy heat of the day, Josh’s arrival had meant that the sex plan had to be put to one side. 

And now Toby was looking at her, staring at her. A challenge in his eyes... God those eyes. She decided to wing it.

"Thank you, Toby." CJ took the purse and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. "You are a gentleman."

Josh snorted. "Weren’t you forgetting to add the sarcasm there, CJ? Or has being trapped in the dark with Mr. Happy addled your brain?"

CJ said nothing, but she caught the smile in Toby’s eyes and answered with her own.

"Let’s walk over to the South Bank and grab a drink at the NFT." Will ushered them up the steps to Hungerford Bridge. He had spent a lot of time in London as a young teenager and he was anxious to show off his local knowledge to the others.

The new bridge was wide enough to allow them to walk side by side and CJ grinned when she felt Josh link arms with her. She quickly pushed her free hand into Toby’s and gave it a quick squeeze, swallowing hard when she realized that he was squeezing back, and holding on.

"Don’t even think about it." Toby shot at Will.

"I never took you guys for the touchy feely types." Will shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets, pushing away the sense of isolation he still carried around with him.

Josh let go of CJ and walked round to the other side of Toby. He threw an arm briefly over Will’s shoulder. "We’re not. But we like to keep you on your toes."

Toby kept hold of CJ’s hand.

*

 

The bar was crowded and hot. It seemed like most of London had had the same idea, and there was not a table to be had. They leaned against the wall outside the National Theatre, clutching the cans of coke that Josh had managed to buy from a small stall at an exorbitant price.

"So what was it like? Being stuck underground with Toby?" Josh grinned at the discomfort on CJ’s face.

"Stuck underground with Toby and hundreds of other people ... in the _dark_!" added Will with a quick look at Toby’s impassive face.

"Yes, CJ, what was it like?" Toby raised his eyebrows and sipped from his can.

"Not much different to being stuck in the pitch dark in this maze of concrete, I would imagine." CJ looked around her, hoping to change the subject. She should have known better. Josh was nothing if not persistent when he smelled a story, and Will was looking interested. She looked at Toby. He blinked back at her, not a smile, but those eyes, God those eyes again.

"It was an illuminating experience."

"Come on, CJ!" Josh threw his hands in the air. "You’ve got to do better than that."

"Right, Josh. You want me to say that we took the opportunity to have passionate sex in a car full of people?"

"Well, uh... no, actually, that wasn’t what I was thinking that you’d say at all. But since you have... Did you make love to CJ, Toby."

Toby sighed into his drink. "Yes, Josh."

"You’re no fun, you two." Josh hurled his can in the bin in disgust.

"That’s because we’ve had our fun, Josh. And now we’re tired and hot. CJ and I are going to go back to the hotel and share a shower." Toby took CJ’s hand and pulled her with him. "We’ll see you this evening for dinner."

Will and Josh watched open-mouthed as CJ and Toby walked off towards Westminster.

"Do you really think . . ?" Will turned to stare at Josh.

"Nah. He likes to mess with my mind. That’s all. CJ has better taste and Toby has designs on Andi. They’re playing with us. Come on. I want to try the Big Wheel thing. It wasn’t there when you were here before, was it?"

"It’s the London Eye, Josh and no, it’s only been here..."

"Sometimes you remind me of Sam, do you know that?"

They joined the line.

*

Fifteen minutes, or thereabouts saw CJ and Toby exit the elevator at their hotel. Toby opened the door to his room and dragged CJ inside. He stared thoughtfully at her and then turned away, striding across the floor to the window and dragging the heavy drapes closed until the room was in pitch darkness.

"What are you doing, Toby?"

"I thought I’d recreate a little atmosphere."

CJ laughed.

"You’re doing it again."

"What?" She covered her mouth, but her eyes crinkled as she peered towards him through the darkness.

"Laughing. You know it makes me hard when you laugh. Always has done." Toby’s voice approached carefully as he put out a hand and made contact with a soft breast.

CJ gasped. "Always?"

"Mmmm." The hand had been replaced by his mouth and Toby was too busy to reply further.

"Do you think, Toby..." CJ was finding it hard to concentrate, the mouth at her breast and the fingers on her thigh sending her thought processes out of control. "Do you think that we could have a little light?"

Toby stopped and took a breath. "Why do you want some light?"

"Well," CJ slipped her hand down between them and ran her fingers over his straining fly. "I think the reality might just be better than the fantasy."

Toby drew a breath. He’d spent eighteen years dreaming about touching CJ; imagining her eyes as he brought her to climax, the flush on her neck, the sweaty tendrils of hair around her ears as he licked them. He had visualized his hands running the length of her legs, the gleam of her teeth as she laughed with him, the look on her face as he tipped her over the edge. He never dreamt that he would see it. Really see it. That she would see him... and want him.

CJ closed her eyes at the silence. Something in her gut was telling her that she had made a mistake - that Toby didn’t want _her_ at all. The dark was a useful cover. He could be kissing any woman, could believe that she was somebody else. She felt sick at the thought, bringing her arms across her body and turning away from the man motionless in front of her. Then she couldn’t feel him at all, just the movement of air where he had moved away. CJ stifled a sob, feeling her arousal seep into embarrassment. She wracked her brain for words to rescue the situation.

Suddenly a stream of light hit the bed like a laser beam. The drapes had been opened a crack - enough to illuminate the deep red of the comforter, but leaving the rest of the room in shadow.

"I’ve always wanted to watch you." The velvet voice was in her ear, the strong arms around her waist, fingers sliding under her blouse to smooth the shivering skin beneath.

CJ leaned back into him, arching her neck into Toby’s face, grinding her hips against his.

 "Always?"

"Mmmm." Now his lips were trailing down her neck and his hands were fluttering perilously near the top of her jeans.

"We need to get undressed, now, Toby. I mean it." 

CJ spun away from him and stared in awe as Toby ripped the buttons off his shirt and threw it on the floor, toeing out of his shoes at the same time. She stepped forward and unzipped his pants, hands shaking as she pushed them down and off his legs, eyes taking in the surprisingly strong muscle definition and the fine black hair against milk-white skin. She licked her lips, then used her tongue to flicker against his thighs while she drew his soft cotton boxers down to the floor.

"CJ..." Toby seemed to have lost his voice.

"I believe I owe you, Toby. Just relax." 

CJ pushed him back onto the bed and watched him gaze at her while she took off her blouse. The material shimmered in the light as she let it drop from her shoulders, the dust particles catching in the sun as she danced in and out of its beam. As her arms bent around her back to unclasp her bra, Toby’s hands shot forward to catch each breast as it was released. His thumbs stroked her nipples reverently as he measured the weight in his palms. He leaned towards her and took her whole breast in his mouth, rolling the hard bead with his tongue and smiling at the moan she let slip as he sucked.

"I said it’s your turn!" CJ struggled to push him away, wanting more than she could believe that he keep touching her. 

Toby looked up at her and held her gaze, his fingers still stroking her silken flesh. Then he smiled and CJ thought her chest would burst. Oh God, she’d got it bad, she’d do anything to have him smile at her like that again.

"This is part of my turn, CJ, but if you insist..." He tipped his head, his expression serious once more. "But I want to see you."

"Okay... just sit still."

CJ knelt on the floor in front of the bed and took Toby’s feet in her hands. She pulled off his socks and with a raised eyebrow, brought a foot up to her face, wrinkling her nose in mock distaste.

"CJ!" A growl from Toby this time.

She laughed, dropping the foot and running her hands up his legs through the hair until she rested on his thighs, breasts over his knees. Still laughing softly, she watched his erection twitch.

"Fascinating," she murmured before sitting back on her heels and taking his tip into her mouth. She looked up at his face, keeping her tongue swirling slowly around his tip, tasting him as he had tasted her earlier. 

Toby lay back on bent elbows, desperately trying to keep his eyes open and focused on the woman before him. He was certain that if he closed them, she would disappear and he would wake up to find an empty bed and a sticky patch on the sheet. He wasn’t fifteen years old, but he knew from bitter experience that any dream involving CJ tended to end that way. He didn’t want this to end.

The feel of her hair on his thighs and the heat of her mouth sucking on him was almost more than he could bear. He felt himself tense, and when her fingers tightened around his balls and pressed, he could contain himself no longer. 

CJ swallowed and kept her mouth on his softening erection, lapping gently as his rapid breathing slowed and his eyes focused on her once more. She didn’t think she had ever enjoyed herself more than pleasuring Toby that way. She took her mouth from him and let him pull her up onto the bed.

They lay side by side in the sunlight, nose to nose and softly kissing. Hands clasped and then releasing to let fingers explore. CJ felt Toby’s now familiar touch as he drew patterns on her stomach and side, winding his way down her body to the curls below. She gasped as he teased her, lifting her leg to settle over his hip and allowing him better access. His eyes never left her face.

CJ rubbed gently at Toby’s chest, fingernails scraping his nipples, mimicking the pattern of his fingers in her folds. She let one hand drop to his penis, feeling the silk-softness begin to stir. She smiled and then chuckled, amazed at how quickly he hardened. She saw his eyes flicker and stroked harder, moving as close as she could, feeling her own desire begin to spiral out of control.

"I need you inside me, Toby. Please." Her lips formed the words against his and she moaned as he turned her onto her back, bringing his body up over her.

He thrust inside her and she thought that she would faint with the thrill of him. Harder and harder and she could see stars and those eyes. God, those eyes, staring into her soul and breaking apart into a million pieces before blackness descended as she came.

Toby saw his dream come true and he shouted her name as his climax erupted through him.

~

They were a little late to dinner.

~

*

# Epilogue - Making The Connections

*

CJ opened the door to her office, slipped inside and closed it behind her. She loved her job, was pleased to be back. But sometimes... sometimes there were just days and today was one of those.

She sank into her chair and put her head in her hands. They’d been back in the White House three hours and she still hadn’t seen Toby. He’d avoided her on Air Force One, at least that’s what it seemed like to her, and they’d been in separate cars on the way back. She didn’t want to lose him, but she had no idea how she was going to keep him. She really couldn’t compete with a glorious complexion, natural hair color and twins. And he didn’t have to reach up to kiss Andi. CJ had not yet met a man who didn’t voice his desire for her to lose a few inches at some point in a relationship. She couldn’t change her height, and if she were honest, she didn’t want a man who couldn’t handle her being taller. Maybe she didn’t really want to know that about Toby; he mattered to her and she didn’t want to lose that faith or his friendship.

CJ could see long days and nights of heartache and unrequited lust stretch out before her. Time for that poker face and a hefty dose of reality, she thought.

"There’s no good way of doing this." A quiet voice from her couch.

CJ started, her heart pounding and her mouth dry. Just how long had he been sitting there, and had she said anything out loud? She stood and let the hurt and the anger reach her eyes, if not her mouth. She said nothing; random thoughts crashing around her head, tears of rage in her eyes.

He’s dumping me. The bastard is dumping me because I’m not good enough, wasn’t good enough. He thinks it’s too complicated - well he’s not seen complicated yet. NOW it’s complicated, I’ll show him complicated. She took a step towards the door.

A split second passed. That was all.

Toby continued, "I was going to make you jump either way. If I’d stayed quiet any longer, it would have freaked you out even more than it already has. I thought you’d never come. Are you okay?"

The concern in his eyes, the tenderness in the smile that creased his face - it was all CJ needed to see. She started to laugh; tears pouring down her cheeks, the sound rolling round the room, punctuated by gasps for breath. Her only thought, ‘I’m still in the game.’

Toby looked over his shoulder, worried that Carol might rush in to find out what was happening despite the late hour. He took the two steps necessary to close the distance between them and put his hand on CJ’s shoulder, using the other to touch her cheek and bring her face down for a soft kiss.

"I’ve told you before about the laughing thing." Toby looked her in the eye, his face a familiar mask of irritation.

CJ sighed with relief at the normality of his reaction. She didn’t think she could bear a cute Toby. "Irritated Toby" was whom she was used to, whom she was fond of; who made her feel weak at the knees. She took the opportunity to press against him, hands sliding over his chest, and smiled at the feel of him harden against her. She looked at him wonderingly.

"Am I too tall, Toby?"

An important question, he realized. Not one he had heard her ask before. Not one that he had ever asked himself.

"I’ve never really thought about it. It’s always been part of you. You wouldn’t be CJ if you weren’t tall. And I wouldn’t be able to do this."

She gasped as he pressed the tip of his erection against the heat of her pants, his warm hands circling her waist and pulling her onto him, his lips brushing across hers.

"I like being able to do this." He did it again.

"And you’ll never ask me to reach things for you in the supermarket. You’ll be better up ladders than I am..." He leaned in for another thrust and another kiss. "No. I wouldn’t change a thing."

"Toby," CJ looked down at the man in her arms. "Do you need to borrow a purse? Or shall we improvise?"

A long arm reached out to lock the door and close the blinds.

Toby swung her round until her back was pressed against the door. 

"We know how to do this with our eyes shut."

The End 


End file.
